The High Court refused Margaret Maguire’s bid to establish that she had received planning permission by default for a bungalow proposal in Bray, County Wicklow, even though Bray Town Council made its refusal decision one day outside the statutory deadline.
In a judgment dated 4 June 2010, Mr Justice Eamon de Valera found that the council’s decision was made on 11 April 2003, after the 10 April deadline. The application had been submitted on 14 February 2003. Under section 34(8) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, a planning authority’s failure to decide within the prescribed period can mean permission is deemed granted on the final day.
The council argued that the decision itself had been made in time and only its notice was issued late. It also submitted that the proposed development would materially contravene the Bray Development Plan 1999, and that this prevented permission arising by default. The notice party, Maurice Mortell, also objected to the relief on that basis.
The judge concluded, on the evidence and affidavits, that the proposal would materially contravene the development plan. He referred to the council inspector’s finding that it would be a traffic hazard and to objections from local residents. Because the development could not have been validly permitted under the plan, the judge held that the statutory default mechanism could not create a permission that could not lawfully have been granted in the first place.
The council had also alleged breaches of planning application regulations, including missing dimensions and land levels on drawings and a lack of a north point on the site plan. The judge found no particularly significant breaches, noting that the council had accepted the application as valid and had not made a forceful case at the hearing on the alleged deficiencies.
The judge did not decide whether Maguire’s conduct, including the timing of her claim or alleged works at the site, should affect her entitlement to relief. He said that issue did not need to be considered after his finding on material contravention. He refused the relief sought and dismissed the judicial review application.